Master Chief William
by GGHarrison
Summary: This is a story I wrote for my grandson. It contains characters, weapons and battles from several games.


Master Chief William was a supersoldier in the United Nations Command Army. In 2552 he was called to the planet Reach because it was being attacked by the Covenant, an alliance of alien species. Reach was the largest naval installation for UNSC. Also, it was the main defense protecting Earth from invasion.

MC William landed at the space port city of Manasas. He was met there by Commander Carter. MC William had trained with Carter A 259 before and they were good friends. Carter briefed him about the attack. Most of Carter's Special warfare team, code named Noble, was already placing trip mines at Szudok Ridge in the Highland Mountains. The Commander hoped to stop the Covenant's progress there.

On the way to their post they came across a squad of Brutes. They ran for cover when a Brute using a concussion rifle knocked over the lead Gauss Warthog. More Brutes arrived and began attacking Noble team with gravity hammers, but MC William stopped them with frag grenades. The humans regrouped and continued to their fortification near Szudok Ridge, which was already under attack by an army of Drones.

MC William took a position up high with a Spartan laser while Carter manned a machine gun turret, but there were so many Drones that they overran Carter's position. Then MC William saw Elite troops approaching the battle site. He knew that most of his unit was killed, including Commander Carter, and that the humans could not drive the Covenant away this time.

He gathered survivors and activated Cortana, his AI partner. She was a specially designed program in MC William's Mark IV armor. He could see and talk to her blue holographic image. The humans escaped over the mountain to Camp Independence, a stronghold in a large cavern deep inside the Highland Mountains. MC William met with Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb who was receiving reports that UNSC positions all over Reach were overwhelmed by Covenant forces. The Vice Admiral ordered all human inhabitants of Reach to evacuate the planet. He directed automatic missile pods to fire toward the Covenant fleet, which destroyed the command ship Long Night of Solace and gave the humans time to escape the planet.

Cortana piloted their fighter, the Longsword, into space they had not seen before. As they approached a giant gas planet called Threshold, MC William noticed a huge ring-shaped satellite in orbit above it. He had his crew scan the ring to learn more about it. It was known as Alpha Halo and had been built thousands of years before. It had gravity, a breathable atmosphere and supported diverse plant and animal life. He formed a recon unit to explore the ring. They found a platoon of Hunters guarding a small Covenant outpost. The recon unit quickly eliminated the Hunters with their M6 Magnums. Cortana attempted to interface with the building's security system to gain entry.

A small group of unarmed Elites led by an Arbiter named Thel 'Vadam approached as they were trying to open the door locks, and offered assistance. Thel 'Vadam didn't think the Covenant should war with humans. He told MC William this building was a Cartographer and contained a map room and other critical information. He provided Cortana with a bypass code to enter the Cartographer and access all the information about Covenant installations on Alpha Halo. The Arbiter revealed that the Covenant was organizing a massive invasion force to attack Earth, so MC William used the holographic map to locate a communications relay which Cortana disabled, interrupting signals between starships and delaying the invasion on Earth.

MC William took Thel 'Vadam to meet Lord Hood, UNSC Commander of Earth defenses. The Arbiter educated them all about the multiple species in the Covenant, how to identify each species, what each was capable of, and what weapons they usually carried. The Arbiter also taught the humans about Covenant weapon systems and combat tactics. He helped the humans develop new weapon systems such as gungnir armor to coordinate with Spartan lasers for improved target awareness and accuracy. They were training Gunnery Sergeant Eddie Buck and his division of Orbit Drop Shock Troopers in combat strategy when word came that the Covenant Fleet was approaching Earth.

MC William joined the Gunnery Sergeant on a special mission to defend the city of New Mombasa, a major industrial city in Africa. The Master Chief carried an MA5C assault rifle and a flamethrower on his back. As they neared the city, they encountered a regiment of Elite soldiers. The MC quickly aimed his rifle at the nearest soldier, shot him, and grabbed his energy sword to use in a close fight with the rest of the Covenant unit. This weapon featured twin shafts of superheated ionized gas rather than a metal blade and was able to penetrate almost any armor or shield. More humans seized energy swords while others used their M45 Tactical Shotguns to cut down the enemy ranks.

The Gunnery Sergeant had his Special Forces move closer to the city to battle the next Covenant advance. Their scouts located a large battalion of Jackal snipers and Grunt support soldiers hiding in a forest waiting for orders. MC William and the Gunnery Sergeant met to plan their assault. MC William and three ODST fired short bursts from their flamethrowers into the underbrush causing it to erupt into fire. The sudden roar of the flamethrowers, the smoke and heat of the blast panicked the Drones who ran toward an open area where the Gunnery Sergeant and his troops eliminated them with their battle rifles. The Jackals were left exposed and were easy targets for MC William's detail. Then, MC William entered the city and joined the main army against the Covenant invasion.

MC William was stationed on a rooftop near the main road leading to the city's industrial center. He aimed an M41 rocket launcher at a group of Wraith tanks and fired. The rocket blew a crater in the road and wrecked several tanks. Tank parts smashed into nearby buildings and smoked. The tanks behind them powered right over the wreckage and kept advancing so he set off more rockets. Overhead AC-220 Vulture gunships launched missiles at Covenant fortifications on the ground and at destroyers in the sky above the city. He could feel and hear sonic booms when orbital defense platforms delivered salvos into Covenant assault carriers. Debris from explosions rained down. Then came a blinding light and a thunderous roar as cannons hit several Covenant battle cruisers at the same time, causing a shockwave to rip through the atmosphere. Dozens of Covenant airships fell from the sky all at once. MC William was knocked down by the impact of the explosion. He scrambled back to his position, then he noticed Covenant ground troops retreating. He continued to lob rockets at the rear of their formations as they left the city.

The humans fought so fiercely for their homeland that the Covenant invasion force was repelled. But the city of Mombasa was demolished by the battle.

Lord Hood called all team leaders for new assignments to search out and destroy any Covenant occupied planets capable of threatening human colonies.

MC William and his team traveled into deep space. As they neared High Charity, Cortana took over the Longsword's controls and precisely plotted a slip-space jump directly to the station's interior, bypassing its complex defense system. Cortana led them to the central reactor core. They used active cammo and stolen radar jammers to avoid detection until they reached the power housing. MC William placed small explosive charges held up by portable gravity lifts, so that when the lifts' power ran out, the charges would fall and detonate, setting off a chain reaction.

MC William and his Spartan Blue team raced away from High Charity's power plant as their explosives detonated. Their HazOp armor protected them from superheated fumes and flying shrapnel until they boarded the Longsword and escaped from the station. As Cortana piloted them away, MC William watched High Charity erupt into flames and explode. Then he turned and gave Cortana coordinates for the next Covenant-controlled world.


End file.
